MacRumors

Niantic and The Pokémon Company today announced that an update coming this week to Pokémon Go on iOS will bring support for Apple's ARKit, enhancing the augmented reality abilities of the popular mobile game. The company is calling this feature "AR+" and will be available to players running iOS 11 on the iPhone 6s and later devices.

Previously announced by Apple at WWDC, ARKit brings a few new advancements to Pokémon Go's augmented reality technology, including the ability for the app to fix Pokémon to a specific point in space. This scaling feature allows players to walk up close to a Pokémon and move around them freely, bringing the app "one step closer to truly realizing Pokémon the way they are supposed to be represented in the real world," according to Niantic.

Another advancement is in the awareness of Pokémon that players are trying to capture, meaning that the creatures might run away if they notice trainers are getting too close. But, if trainers can sneak up on the Pokémon an Expert Handler bonus can be earned upon capture. This mechanic is represented in an "awareness meter" next to each Pokémon and if it fills up the Pokémon will flee, although another opportunity for capture might come if the player taps nearby tall grass.

Both of these new features are combined for the Expert Handler bonus, which rewards players for moving close to a Pokémon in AR+ mode, and capturing it without it fleeing. The bonus will reward players with more XP and Stardust upon capture.

Regarding the ARKit update to Pokémon Go, the company said that "this is our first step toward making AR capabilities in Pokémon GO even more awesome, opening up the framework for greater AR experiences in the future."

During the WWDC reveal of ARKit in June, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering Craig Federighi presented the Pokémon Go AR+ enhancements now rolling out and stated, "The Pokémon is so real, he's right there on the ground. As the ball bounces, it actually bounces right there in the real environment. It's AR like you've never seen it before."

Pokémon Go is available to download for free from the iOS App Store [Direct Link].

It's just a few days before Christmas and Amazon is back with the latest discount on App Store and iTunes gift cards, this time marking down both physical and digital versions worth over $100 by 15 percent for United States customers. The best deal here is for the $100 card, which you can get for $85 in a physical copy, and early access is available now if you have a Prime membership. This is a lightning deal so it will disappear fast.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

The digital version is also available at a 15 percent discount, and requires you to enter the promo code ITUNES15 at checkout to see the savings. One card is available to purchase per customer, and you should receive the code within minutes after you checkout.

Visit our Deals Roundup for more information on holiday sales going on this week.

App Store chart topper Coinbase introduced support for Bitcoin Cash on Wednesday, allowing users of the cryptocurrency exchange app to trade in the alternative "forked" digital asset.

Bitcoin Cash appeared in early August when a group of developers created a separate version of the Bitcoin blockchain, so that more transactions could be processed at a faster rate, with lower associated fees involved.

When news of a potential split or "fork" in the blockchain first appeared, Coinbase said it would not support trading in the new currency that would be created as a result, but in August it reversed its decision and said customers would be able to withdraw Bitcoin Cash from the first day of 2018.

Following today's app update, all users will be credited an amount of Bitcoin Cash that is equal to their Bitcoin balance when the fork occurred on August 1. Bitcoin Cash trading will also be available on GDAX, which is Coinbase's institutional-based exchange.

The Coinbase app surged to the top of Apple's free apps chart in the App Store last week, amid a speculative frenzy surrounding the blockchain cryptocurrency. Today's announcement that it would support Bitcoin Cash caused BTC to drop sharply in the early hours as users switched currencies, but the value appears to have stabilized since, at around $17,599 as of writing.

Also this week, a new version of the CoinHub app was released. Version 1.5 of the cryptocurrency quote platform brings a new secure portfolio, Reddit and news separation, fresh UI styling, and a FOREX engine that lets users purchase any currency pair and automatically see the value in their local fiat currency.

Apple Pay could arrive in Poland as soon as the first quarter of 2018, according to financial technology site cashless.pl. Several independent sources are said to have confirmed active negotiations between Apple and five banks operating in the country, including Alior, BZ WBK, and mBank.

According to the Polish tech site, all banks operating in Poland received an offer from Apple earlier this month to make Apple Pay available to their customers. Some of the banks are said to have declined the offer, but the banks listed above are reportedly negotiating financial terms to start supporting the digital wallet in the first half of 2018.

Given that the banks have already implemented MasterCard or Visa tokenization – the same technology used by Apple Pay to securely link a payment card number to a mobile device – rollout could happen very quickly as soon as negotiations have concluded.

The rollout will reportedly take place with active support from payment companies including Mastercard, although there's no word on whether Visa will be involved in the implementation at this stage.

The last time we heard about plans for Apple Pay in Poland was in October, when an anonymous tipster emailed in an alleged screenshot of Apple Pay being tested with a Mastercard from PKO Bank Polski, for a possible debut in the country by the end of this year. PKO was not mentioned in today's source, however, and may have just been used as a placeholder card for Apple's internal testing only.

(Thanks, Krzysiek!)

Hangouts, Google's dedicated messaging app, was today updated with support for the iPhone X. With the update, the Hangouts app is able to take advantage of the full display of the iPhone X, without black bars at the top and the bottom.

With the iPhone X update for Hangouts, all of Google's major iOS apps now offer support for Apple's new flagship device. Google previously introduced iPhone X updates for Docs, Sheets, Slides, Gmail, and Google Maps.

According to Google's release notes for today's Hangouts update, the only new feature is iPhone X optimization.

Google Hangouts can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming tvOS 11.2.5 update to developers for testing purposes, one week after seeding the first beta and one week after the release of tvOS 11.2.1, an update that introduced a fix for a HomeKit vulnerability.

Designed for the fourth and fifth-generation Apple TV models, the tvOS 11.2.5 developer beta can be downloaded onto the Apple TV via a profile that's installed using Xcode.

We don't yet know what features or changes might be included in the 11.2.5 update, but it likely focuses primarily on bug fixes and performance improvements rather than major outward-facing changes.

There were no outward-facing changes discovered in the first developer beta, but we'll update this post should new features be found in the second beta.

One day after discounting the Apple Watch Series 2, Best Buy is back with another Apple deal in its 20 Days of Doorbusters sale event. Today, Day 19, offers shoppers $200 off three configurations of the MacBook Air refresh from mid 2017. Best Buy's sale places these specific models of the MacBook Air around $100 below the second cheapest price points found at B&H Photo.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

Take a look at the models on sale in the list below and if you're interested get your order in before tonight at midnight when Best Buy's event will tick over to its final day.

• 13-inch MacBook Air, Intel Core i5, 8GB Memory, 128GB Flash Storage - $799.99, down from $999.99
• 13-inch MacBook Air, Intel Core i5, 8GB Memory, 256GB Flash Storage - $999.99, down from $1,199.99
• 13-inch MacBook Air, Intel Core i7, 8GB Memory, 512GB Solid State Drive - $1,349.99, down from $1,549.99

Of course, MacBooks aren't the only item discounted today during Best Buy's event with the retailer discounting SanDisk memory cards by up to 70 percent off, making the 128GB microSDXC UHS-I Memory Card just $41.99, down from $159.99. The 128GB Wi-Fi only iPad mini 4 is also on sale for $299.99, down from $399.99.

If you're on the hunt for a MacBook Pro, B&H Photo has a few notable discounts on higher-end configurations of Pro models ongoing this holiday season. Most configurations being discounted are for 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro models with the Touch Bar that launched in late 2016 and mid 2017. Check out a few of the best deals in the list below:

13-inch MacBook Pro

• Early 2015, 2.7 GHz, 16GB RAM, 256GB Flash Storage - $1,249.00, down from $1,699.00

• Touch Bar, Mid 2017, 3.1 GHz, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD - $1,849.00, down from $1,999.00

• Touch Bar, Mid 2017, 3.5 GHz, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD - $2,399.00, down from $2,549.00

15-inch MacBook Pro

• Touch Bar, Late 2016, 2.6 GHz, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD - $1,799.00, down from $2,399.00

• Touch Bar, Late 2016, 2.7 GHz, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD - $1,999.00, down from $2,799.00

• Touch Bar, Late 2016, 2.9 GHz, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD - $2,499.00, down from $3,499.00

• Touch Bar, Mid 2017, 2.9 GHz, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD - $2,499.99, down from $2,799.00

• Touch Bar, Mid 2017, 3.1 GHz, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD - $3,299.00, down from $3,399.00

For more information on the latest sales, head over to our full Deals Roundup.

Apple this morning shared a new video on its YouTube channel highlighting Gwen Stefani's Christmas album "You Make it Feel Like Christmas."

The one minute animated short features a cartoon Gwen Stefani in an updated version of "'Twas the Night Before Christmas." Santa comes down the chimney and then asks Gwen Stefani to do a Christmas music performance.

Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming watchOS 4.2.2 update to developers, one week after seeding the first beta and two weeks after releasing watchOS 4.2, an update that introduced support for Apple Pay Cash.

Once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Apple Developer Center, the new watchOS beta can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General --> Software update.

To install the update, the Apple Watch needs to have at least 50 percent battery, it must be placed on the charger, and it has to be in range of the iPhone.

We don't yet know what features or improvements might be included in the watchOS 4.2.2 update, as no outward-facing changes were discovered in the first beta.

It's possible this update focuses mainly on bug fixes, and if that's the case, we won't know the extent of the changes until it sees a public release complete with release notes.

Should new features be discovered in the second watchOS 4.2.2 beta, we'll update this post.

Shazam today updated its iOS app [Direct Link] with a new way to save song snippets when your iPhone or iPad is offline, automatically identifying them once your device is back online. To try out the new feature, place your iOS device into Airplane Mode, open Shazam, tap the central button to start listening for a song that's playing, and then the app will prompt you with a message saying the Shazam has been saved.

Then, when Airplane Mode is deactivated and you open Shazam again, the app will automatically name the song and add it to the "My Shazam" section of the app. The company noted in the version 11.6.0 release notes that it will also send you a notification to let you know that the Shazam is ready when you are back online.

Keep Shazaming, even when you’re offline! Next time the music's on but the WiFi isn't, simply tap the big blue button and we’ll name that song as soon as you're back online. Now we’ll notify you immediately, even it you don’t have the Shazam app open.

Shazam is continuing to be updated following Apple’s announcement last week that it intends to acquire the music recognition company. Although Apple did not disclose financial terms of the acquisition, a source speaking with TechCrunch said the deal could be worth around $400 million. Shazam is already integrated with Apple Music (saving songs you Shazam to a specific playlist) and it also has an iMessage app, so Apple is expected to further bolster its music services with the new acquisition.

YouTube has delayed its YouTube TV apps for Apple TV and Roku devices until the first quarter of 2018, a company representative told CNET today. The over-the-top service's Apple TV app was initially planned for a launch before the end of 2017, so with less than two weeks left in the year the company has officially pushed back the app's launch to next year.

Around the same Q1 2018 window, YouTube will also debut apps for older models of Samsung's smart TVs, as well as Sony TVs using Linux-based operating systems. YouTube TV launched earlier this year on the web, iOS, and Android in five U.S. cities. The app eventually expanded to Chromecast, Xbox One, Android TV, and newer Samsung and LG smart TVs across more than 80 cities.

The $35/month service offers subscribers the ability to stream cable network television shows on ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, CW, Disney, ESPN, FX, USA, and dozens of other major channels. YouTube TV is a competitor to similar services like Sling TV, Hulu with Live TV, DirecTV Now, and Playstation Vue, all of which can be viewed on the fourth and fifth generation Apple TV models. In addition to streaming live TV, YouTube TV includes content from the $9.99/month YouTube Red service.